Final answer:
The stories about Jesus circulated orally due to prevalent oral cultural traditions, low literacy and scarce writing materials, the expectancy of Jesus' imminent return, and the precedence of religious teachings being memorized and orally passed down.
Step-by-step explanation:
The stories about Jesus were not initially written down but instead circulated by mouth for three main reasons. First, in the culture of the time, oral transmission was common, as writing materials were scarce, and literacy rates were low. Second, the earliest Christians believed that Jesus' second coming would occur soon, thus diminishing the urgency for written accounts. Lastly, religious teachings were often memorized and passed down orally in many traditions, including early Judaism, which highly influenced early Christianity.
Because of these factors, the accounts of Jesus' life, teachings, and resurrection were transmitted orally for decades before being committed to written form. These oral traditions were considered reliable as part of the Mediterranean and ancient Near Eastern cultures, where epic poetry like The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as the Mahabharata, was meticulously preserved through generations.